THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

We do not recommend the Mediterranean diet. Please stay away from it because:

- It is too low in well-cooked vegetables and does not specifically recommend blue corn chips, which are needed for rapid development.

- It suggests mercury-contaminated fish.

- It suggests many other foods that stop development. These include salads, nuts, fruit and a lot of beans.

- It is too low in meats such as lamb, which is an excellent meat.

- It includes wheat, which we find to be an irritating food.

WHAT IS THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET?

This section is taken from the Oldways website. The current Mediterranean diet consists of:

- An abundance of food from plant sources, including fruits and vegetables, potatoes, breads and grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.

- Emphasis on a variety of minimally processed and, wherever possible, seasonally fresh and locally grown foods (which often maximizes the health-promoting micronutrient and antioxidant content of these foods).

- Olive oil as the principal fat, replacing other fats and oils (including butter and margarine).

- Total fat ranging from less than 25 percent to over 35 percent of energy, with saturated fat no more than 7 to 8 percent of energy (calories).

- Daily consumption of low to moderate amounts of cheese and yogurt (low-fat and non-fat versions may be preferable).

- Twice-weekly consumption of low to moderate amounts of fish and poultry (recent research suggests that fish be somewhat favored over poultry); up to 7 eggs per week (including those used in cooking and baking).

- Fresh fruit as the typical daily dessert; sweets with a significant amount of sugar (often as honey) and saturated fat consumed not more than a few times per week.

- Red meat a few times per month (recent research suggests that if red meat is eaten, its consumption should be limited to a maximum of 12 to 16 ounces [340 to 450 grams] per month; where the flavor is acceptable, lean versions may be preferable).

- Moderate use of herbs and spices, for reasons of both health and taste.

- Moderate consumption of wine, normally with meals; about one to two glasses per day for men and one glass per day for women. From a contemporary public health perspective, wine should be considered optional and avoided when consumption would put the individual or others at risk.

THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET AND DEVELOPMENT SCIENCE

A chaos diet. The diet includes a lot of foods that we find are not helpful for development and that are potentially bad food combinations, which are hard on digestion.

Fish problems. The people of Crete may have been a healthy group 70 years ago, but today mercury and other toxic metals contaminate our fish and especially our seafood or shellfish.

Sadly, these are no longer healthful foods at all. There is plenty of literature to support this. Except for sardines and other very small fish, we find that eating fish or shellfish always results in an elevated hair mercury level, and often other elevated toxic metals, as well.

The mercury situation is worsening each day as newer Chinese and Indian power plants spew more mercury into the air. America avoids this problem by using scrubbers on the smokestacks, but many nations don’t use them. This is why burning coal in America is fine. For details about its effects on the climate, read Climate Change.

Not enough cooked vegetables. The bodies today are all extremely mineral deficient. This is due to the use of hybrid crops, superphosphate fertilizers, stress, bad digestion and more. One needs many more cooked vegetables than this diet suggests.

Other. We find that dairy products, and most nuts and seeds do not contain the chemicals needed for development. Fruit is too yin for today’s bodies, which are already very yin. We find it quite harmful and this diet recommends a lot of it.

IMPROVING THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

Changes we suggest are:

1. Many more cooked vegetables – 3 times daily in large quantities. These are needed to alkalinize the body, provide hundreds of nutrients, and they promote deelopment. Nutrients are much better absorbed from well-cooked, rather than raw or slightly cooked vegetables. The damage due to cooking is minor in comparison.

2. No salads. Human beings cannot extract much nutrition from raw vegetables, even if one takes a digestive enzyme. Also, raw food is much more yin. For more information, please read Raw Foods.

3. No fruit or fruit juices, or other sweets, for that matter. These foods are too yin to be consumed in any quantity. Please read Fruit-eating for more information.

4. Include some lamb or organic beef about twice weekly for most people. This seems to be necessary for development and optimal health for most people.

5. Avoid all pig products – pork, ham, bacon, pigs feet, etc. Often, these contain trichina or other parasite eggs or ova, even when well-cooked.

6. No wheat products at all. Wheat is a severely hybridized food that is irritating for most people’s intestines.

7. For fast oxidizers only, add many more fats and oils, and many fewer carbohydrates. This is an empirical and clinical finding. Some people need much more fat in their diet than the Mediterranean diet provides. They need some fat with each meal and do very well on butter, soft-cooked eggs, full-fat cheese, and fatty meats, for example.

A properly performed hair mineral analysis is required to assess who are the fast oxidizers, although almost all babies and most young children are in this group.

8. Minimize red wine. Alcohol is very yin and a toxic substance that is not needed.

9. No fish except sardines and other tiny fish. The ruination of the fish is very sad upon planet earth and I hope we can turn it around some day. Except for the tiny fish like sardines, all fish are toxic, as revealed by the mercury levels on hair tests of fish eaters.

Sushi is one of the worst dishes due to the mercury in the seaweed and the fish.

10. No seafood or shellfish. The contamination of shellfish, often caught in coastal waters, is even worse than other fish.

11. Limit beans to twice per week. Most beans or legumes do not contain much of the chemicals needed for development. Limit dried beans to a minimum and never more than twice weekly.

12. Eat organically grown food, if at all possible. It does not guarantee quality, but it is definitely better. This should be obvious when one realizes how contaminated the food supply is at this time in history.

13. Always use sea salt, not refined table salt. This is important because everyone needs additional trace minerals, and sea salt is one source.

Meanwhile, table salt is one of the worst junk foods! Most of its trace minerals are removed and some has added aluminum, a toxic metal.

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